Dancing has always been a great form of exercise, and in the past decade or so, we’ve really gotten a lot of new and creative ways to incorporate dancing into a workout program. There is one thing that you might notice, though, and that’s the fact that most of the music in these dancing workouts contain high energy pop or hip hop music. Naturally, those types of music aren’t everybody’s cup of tea.
Now, there’s a new workout program that takes all of the aspects of country music dancing (such as line dancing) and puts it all together for a 30 minute cardio blast. It’s called the Country Heat program, and it has been moving its way up the charts for fitness programs. What is it (besides the change in music) that makes Country Heat different from some of the other dancing workouts? Let’s look at the Country Heat program and find out if it’s the right plan for you.
The Country Heat Workouts
One key component of the Country Heat program is that it’s easy to perform. Like other dancing workouts, it’s fairly low impact and the movements are simple enough that beginners are able to pick it up right from the start. There is no special equipment that you need to buy, and you don’t have to go to a gym, which are huge bonuses.
The instructor and inventor of the Country Heat program is Autumn Calabrese of Beachbody, and she is a certified personal trainer that has also invented the 21 Day Fix. Calabrese also has a cookbook that has been highly successful, so she’s a natural fit for someone that will be able to help you lose weight without stepping foot in a gym.
Calabrese’s program comes with three DVDs that contain a total of six workouts, none of which last longer than 30 minutes. Here are the workouts that are included with the entire Country Heat package:
- Giddy Up – Like the name suggests, you’ll be working on the muscles that you would use to ride a horse, with a focus on your leg muscles and glutes. Saddle jumps and squats are a big part of the Giddy Up routine, making it a good ‘leg day’ exercise.
- Bring the Heat – Less of a focus on muscle groups and more attention to burning calories through cardio is included in Bring the Heat. There are a lot of fast paced moves, so it might not be the easiest one to keep up with, but it’s effective.
- Dance Conditioning – Dance Conditioning shifts the focus to your core muscles as you use your own bodyweight to get longer and leaner muscles, mixing up some of the exercises from the previous two.
- Trail Ride – Another cardio program, Trail Ride is another fast paced exercise that will also work on some of the muscle groups in your body.
- Down and Dirty – Down and Dirty is more of a full body muscle building program that includes a lot of high kicking, so you’ll be getting a cardio workout in addition to your strength building.
- Country Swing – The final workout is the Country Swing, which focuses on burning the maximum amount of calories through cardio exercises.
Now, one negative of the workouts is that they can get a bit repetitive. With only a total of six workouts, you will be repeating the same routine every week if you take one day off in that seven day span. The moves aren’t all that complicated, and you get a chance to break down each move before getting into it so that you aren’t too lost.
You will be focusing on the workouts for a total of 35 days, with six days of working out followed by the rest day. Ordering through the Country Heat website will also net you an extra workout called Night Crawl Line Dance that had a song written by Jo Dee Messina just for the bonus workout. Bonus packages are also available, though you can expect to see more workouts in the future due to the success of the base Country Heat program.
Country Heat Resources
When it comes to ordering workout DVDs, one of the first things that people want to know about is the price. The Country Heat DVD package costs around $50 total (in two payments with shipping and handling). Since it’s still a newer program, there aren’t really any cheaper copies that you can find just yet. That price is for the base package, and comes with the three DVDs, bonus DVD, a 30 day eating plan, calendar to track your progress and a guide to show you where to start and finish. It also includes access to coaches online 24 hours per day, special recipes and a forum invite.
As for the premium package, that costs around $75 with shipping and handling. You get all of the same things that you would with the base package, but comes with three new workouts called Wild Goose Chase, Saddle Up and Cardio Round Up. Each package also comes with portion containers, with the premium package having more containers and a shaker and additional calendar.
Is it going to be worth the extra price to get the premium package? At an extra $25, you’re really only getting a couple extra pieces of plastic with three more DVDs, so it really depends on if the three new workouts are going to be that worth it for you. Calabrese’s popular cookbook called “FIXate” is also highly promoted through the program, which costs around $25 and gives you 21 days worth of recipes.
What to Know About Country Heat
While some people might be apprehensive about buying a workout DVD set for $50 that is only supposed to last for 30 days (and even has repeats during those 30 days), there aren’t a bunch of add-ons you need to buy. All you really need is a DVD player and pair of shoes, which you probably already have anyway. There are no weights or yoga mats or medicine balls to buy here, which is a nice bonus.
So now the big question, how much weight are you going to lose while on the Country Heat program? Depending on your level of expertise, you might be able to burn a lot of calories by going full throttle instead of the instructional motions. On average, people are burning around 250 calories with these workouts that last for 30 minutes. That’s a pretty good pace, and you won’t be too tired to supplement any additional exercise you find necessary.
Let’s say that you are a woman that is 5’5” and 180 pounds that is lightly active. This means that you are burning around 1,600 calories per day, with an additional 250 calories burned from Country Heat. At 1,850 calories burned, you would have to eat about 1,100 calories per day to burn 1.5 pounds per week. Of course, some exercises will burn more calories while others will burn fewer, but that’s still an attainable weight loss goal per week.
Summing it Up
If you are a fan of country music and don’t want to do some of the tedious workouts at the gym or other dancing workouts that use different genres of music, then you’ll most certainly be a fan of Country Heat. Country Heat isn’t the most intense workout plan out there, but it will at least be fun to do, and will get you off the couch and moving.
If you don’t think that you are getting enough of a workout, you can always repeat them or add different at-home exercises (for those avoiding the gym). Eating is the other big part of losing weight, and thankfully Country Heat has you prepared for that with an eating guide and recipes for the full 30 days. The plan is healthy enough that you can also repeat the 30 day recipes and still find weight loss success.
For its price, it might not be the best plan out there since it does tend to be repetitive, but losing weight isn’t always the most exciting thing. If you happen to use the plan for two months instead of one, then you are getting your money’s worth, as you would be paying more for a gym membership at that point.
People tend to trust Calabrese due to the success of her previous program 21 Day Fix, so she is definitely an expert in the field. Not everyone out there is a fan of country music, but as long as you enjoy dancing to high energy tunes, you should still get a kick out of it. The best part is, you can watch some of the workouts on YouTube to see if it’s the right plan for you before you open your wallet, which is something we always look for when it comes to workout plans or diets.